ATP Monte Carlo - Wednesday Schedule: Nadal, Zverev to play
Kei Nishikori and Pierre-Hugues Herbert will open the Wednesday schedule on the Central Court. The Japanese player leads head to head meetings 2-0 having won at this year's Rotterdam and 2016 Miami. After that, Alexander Zverev will play against Felix Auger-Aliassime for the first time in career. Then the 11-time tournament champion Rafael Nadal will play. The world No. 2 faces Roberto Bautista Agut for the third time after prevailing in straight sets both at the 2017 French Open and 2014 Madrid. Dominic Thiem will play against Martin Klizan for the fifth time. The Slovakia's leads head to head meetings 3-1 but Thiem won the most recent meeting at the 2018 St. Petersburg Open final. On the Court des Princes Stefanos Tsitsipas starts as a favorite against Mikhail Kukushkin who he already beat at this year's Marseille and last year's Dubai. Gilles Simon will seek his sixth win over six matches played against Fabio Fognini (they last faced each other at the 2012 Madrid Open) then Grigor Dimitrov plays Jan-Lennard Struff and David Goffin faces Dusan Lajovic.
In an interview the Rafael's uncle Toni recalled the tough 2016 season: "He was playing well again but he changed his strings. Someone told him he would hit stronger. In the practice session it was going very well but in the competition that did not work. He had no control. Balls were flying. I told him to comeback to the antics but in the beginning he did not listen at me. Then in Rio de Janeiro he told me I was right. He cameback to the antics and everything improved. He reached the Indian Wells semifinals, he lost to Novak Djokovic, he won Monte Carlo, Barcelona... He gained a rhythm again, but then the wrist injury interrupted his progress."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2IouRVG
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